Week Nine Update

Week Nine Update

Pipe Sealing

This week, the heat pipe was sealed securely. Sealing the pipe has been one of the largest issues in this project. During every test prior to this, a leak developed that allowed liquid water and vapors to escape the pipe, thus reducing efficiency. This week, we tripled the amount of teflon tape on the threads of the cap and sealed the cap as tightly as possible. We then added additional teflon tape to the joint between the cap and the pipe. This proved to sufficiently seal the pipe and no leaks occurred. The increase in efficiency is apparent in figure 2 below. The pipe was set up like the other previous tests. The evaporator end was at the bottom receiving the heat. The condenser end was at the top away from the heat source. There were three sensors. One at the evaporator end, middle and condenser end (figure 1)

 

Figure 1: Set up of 4th test

Test Four Results

Figure 2: Result of the 4th test

This test shows increased efficiency when compared to the last test. Once a high enough temperature is reached at the evaporator end, that end of the pipe actually begins to cool as water transfers heat to the condenser end and the radiator fins. This represents the cooling of the small engine.